State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat has joined the First Ministerial Conference on Drug Trafficking and Substance Abuse in the Western Indian Ocean in Mauritius.

The conference was held at Intercontinental Resort in Balaclava, Mauritius on Thursday, according to a press release received on Friday.

Ministers and delegation chiefs of different countries including Bangladesh State Minister discussed strategies to deal with drug trafficking and abuse of drugs.

The conference emphasized the establishment of a network of leading national organizations to coordinate the drug response through the establishment of regional cooperation structures and a regional drug observatory.

The challenges highlighted by the participants in the conference are additional risk of drug use by youths, risk of destabilizing enforcement of law and cross-border security, illegal financial flows, transnational crime, destroying family and social peace, threats to maritime security, the growing threat of synthetic drugs, flaws in the legal framework and increasing volume of drug production and drug markets.

To address the aforementioned challenges, the participants of the conference proposed increasing maritime surveillance and developing cross-border cooperation, partnership of all concerned stakeholders to disrupt and destroy drug trafficking networks, taking separate regional responsibilities, bringing partners together on regional maritime security established by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), training across the world and enhancing bilateral cooperation including police and customs cooperation between Indian Ocean countries.

Other recommendations placed in the conference were to reconsider and renew strategies to resolve drug related problems, review legal frameworks and international cooperation, work in close collaboration with international organizations such as the IOC and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, making commitment to sustainable development after reducing drug abuse and overall organized crime by following the examples of those who successfully dealt with drug trafficking and drug abuse.

On the sideline of the conference, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat discussed different issues with Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.

On behalf of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the state minister invited the Mauritius Prime Minister to visit Bangladesh.

A total of 24 countries and 26 organizations joined the conference.

At the end of the conference, the declaration of the First Ministerial Conference on Drug Trafficking and Substance Abuse was adopted.